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Nancy Erickson Lamont

Nancy Erickson Lamont, a seasoned jazz vocalist who studied with the renowned jazz instructor Frank DeMiero, has been leaving her mark on Seattle's music scene for over three decades. Her impressive vocal range, lush alto, and distinctive approach to the jazz tradition have captivated audiences and earned her a reputation as one of the city's most engaging and natural vocalists. Come January 2024, Nancy unveils her fourth studio album, Through the Passages, produced by the acclaimed Grammy-nominated vocalist and producer Johnaye Kendrick.

Featuring an array of jazz talent, including lauded pianist-composer-bandleader Josh Nelson (Natalie Cole, Sara Gazarek), pianist Shawn Schlogel, bassists Chris Symer and Michael Glynn (Cory Weeds, Dave Grusin), and drummer Stefan Schatz (Jon Hendricks, The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra), Through the Passages is a contemplative collection of original songs exploring life’s miraculous and mysterious seasons. Nancy’s first record of originals, written in collaboration with Schlogel and pianist Darin Clendenin, Through the Passages draws its lyrics from poems Lamont has written throughout her life.

Through the Passages features her wistful, immersive stories of new love, motherhood, aging, and the state of the world, propelled forward by Nancy’s nimble vocal stylings and her tight, masterful band. As each vignette sails life’s currents, Nancy’s artistry and heartfelt storytelling invites listeners to lean into a rich, disarming sonic world.

Awards

2012 Seattle Kobe Female Jazz Vocalist winner


Tags

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Bailey's Bundles

Seven Women (Plus Three) 2018 – Part XI

Read "Seven Women (Plus Three) 2018 – Part XI" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Kris Adams We Should Have Danced Self Produced 2018 There is a special significance to Kris Adams's release We Should Have Danced. The recording features Adam's original lyrics with arrangements by pianist Tim Ray, of compositions of the late Steve Prosser, Adams' former husband and Berklee College of Music professor. Shortly after Prosser's passing away in 2012, Adams came across a folder titled “Songs for CD" among the items he had left behind for ...

5
Album Review

Nancy Erickson: While Strolling Through the Park

Read "While Strolling Through the Park" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Listening to “New Year's Eve," Nancy Erickson's original composition opening her third recording, While Strolling Through the Park, makes me recall the songwriting of Dr. Louise Van Aarsen (Destiny (Self Produced, 2012)). Both sport a very contemporary and adult vision of falling in love, having a family and simply living. That is refreshing in that this songwriting lack the grandiloquent melodrama of the Great American Songbook. It is music for everyone. Erickson's “Summer Day" and “The Whippoorwill Song" echo this ...

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"Nancy Erickson deserves our very close attention as a fully-formed artist, one of our best contemporary singers — full of feeling, wit, affection, reverence for tradition and a thoroughly winning originality." - Michael Steinman - Jazz Lives "Erickson is an impressive singer, and she has produced an album that portends a bright future for this jazz loving lady." ' - Joe Lang, Jersey Jazz "A skilled singer who is also an excellent songwriter....Ms. Erickson has an appealing tone, does justice to lyrics and swings." - Scott Yanow, Los Angeles Jazz Scene Erickson is smart in her song choice and arrangements

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Primary Instrument

Vocals

Location

Seattle

Willing to teach

Intermediate to advanced

Credentials/Background

Private lessons available.

Clinic/Workshop Information

Nancy Erickson Lamont has 3 clinic options to choose from: 1) Building your set list and vocal styling * How to create an interesting one hour set * Work through 2 tunes and styling them (decisions regarding intros & endings, where to solo/scat, when to improvise, sensitivity in singing, note choices that work within the chord) * How to approach the band at a jam session 2) Youth or Adult Improvisation * Basic scatting techniques - blues chord progression * Repetition & copying * Building on your scatting partner's solo * Trading 8's, 4's, 2's * How to tell your story through scat  3) Beginning Songwriting *How to write a strong lyric to tell your story  *Basic song forms to choose from *Collaboration - writing songs with someone else *You don't have to play an instrument to write - how to make it happen!

Don Ellis
trumpet
Diana Krall
piano and vocals
Säje
band / ensemble / orchestra

Photos

Music

Videos

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